Thursday, 11 August 2016

A migrant girl sleeps under a mosquito net outside the former
international airport in Athens, currently used as a temporary camp for
migrants and refugees: photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP, 10 August 2016

.A migrant girl sleeps under a mosquito net outside the former
international airport in Athens, currently used as a temporary camp for
migrants and refugees: photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP, 10 August 2016

GREECE - A refugee girl sleeps on the ground outside the former
international airport in Athens. By @tzortzinis #AFP: image via
Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 August 2016

Azadi: What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it
be discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct? Arundhati Roy,
Outlook, 25 July 2016

The people of Kashmir have made it clear once again, as they
have done year upon year, decade upon decade, grave upon grave, that
what they want is azadi. (The “people”, by the way, does not mean those
who win elections conducted in the rifle sights of the army. It does not
mean leaders who have to hide in their homes and not venture out in
times like these.)While we denounce -- as we must -- the gunning down of unarmed protesters
by the security forces, the attacks on ambulances and hospitals by
policemen, and the blinding of teenagers with pellet guns, we have to
keep in mind that the real debate cannot only be about the violation of
human rights by Indian security forces in the Kashmir valley. Egregious
though they are, those violations are the consequence -- the inevitable and
unavoidable consequence -- of the militaristic suppression of a people’s
struggle for freedom. Kashmiris are not fighting for the establishment
of the rule of law or an end to human rights violations. They are
fighting for azadi. For this, they are prepared to face down bullets
with stones. For this, they are prepared to die in numbers. For this,
they are prepared to exhibit acts of open defiance that may lead to
their death or incarceration in the most densely militarised zone in the
world. For this, they are prepared to take to arms, to fight to the
death, knowing full well that they will die young. They have proved that
with tragic regularity. They have been nothing if not consistent.

It’s no usepretending that what the Indian government has on its
hands is a fleeting law and order problem created from time to time by a
fickle, volatile people. What is happening is a dangerous, spiralling
crisis of unmanageable proportions in a region that is sandwiched
between two hostile nuclear powers. For that reason alone it should
concern the whole world.If we really want to address that crisis, if we really want to stop the
endless cycle of killing and dying, if we really want to stem the
haemorrhaging, the first step has to be a small concession to honesty.
We have to have an honest conversation. However diverse the views may
be, however opposed to one another -- the subject of that conversation has
to be azadi: What exactly does azadi mean to Kashmiris? Why can’t it be
discussed? Since when have maps been sacrosanct? Should a people’s right
to self-determination be denied at any cost? Are the people of India
prepared to have the blood of thousands of ordinary people on their
conscience? With what moral authority can we talk about all the other
horrors being visited upon us, if we are prepared to swallow this one?
Is the presumed “consensus” in India on the subject of Kashmir real or
manufactured? Does it matter? In truth, it shouldn’t. What matters is
what Kashmiris want, and how to arrive at that consensus in the most
peaceful, democratic and informed way possible.If there is to be a solution to this terrible, seemingly endless
tragedy, we have to be able to think clearly, speak freely and listen
fearlessly to things we may not want to hear. We have to find a new
imagination. This applies to everybody, on all sides of the dispute.Something beautiful could come of it. Why not? Why ever not?

KARACHI: Supreme militant commander of the
Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin urged Pakistan on Sunday to find a
peaceful solution to the ongoing violence in India-held Kashmir.

If
a peaceful solution is not reached then Pakistan should consider
cutting off diplomatic ties with India over the killing of Burhan
Muzaffar Wani in Kashmir.

Speaking during a press
conference at the Jamaat-i-Islami’s (JI) headquarters, Idara Noor-i-Haq,
here Salahuddin, who is also the head of the Muttahida Jihad Council,
said that the young commander’s killing gave “new meaning to the
struggle for India-held Kashmir”.

Salahuddin spoke for
the entire duration of the one-hour press conference, with members of
the JI, including its Karachi emir Naeem-ur-Rahman, sitting next to him.
The reporters were informed that Salahuddin had come on a short visit
to Karachi from Muzaffarabad to “especially speak to the media”.

Reading
from a piece of paper, Salahuddin said:“Today marks the 30th day of
curfew in India-held Kashmir. The violence has claimed 65 lives so far
and around 125 people are injured through the pellet guns used by the
Indian troops.”

He said Pakistan was “morally bound” to help the Kashmiris at this time.

Pointing
out the United Nations Security Council resolution on the accession of
Kashmir, he said there were so far “18 such resolutions tabled by the UN
on Kashmir which have been ignored by the international community”.

He
added: “Any resistance by the Kashmiris in the face of the extreme
violence perpetrated by the Indian troops will end up being the
responsibility of the international community besides India.”

In
light of the current discord in relations between India and Pakistan
due to the wave of violence exacerbated by the killing of Wani in
Kashmir, Salahuddin said that calling back ambassadors from India is the
“best solution at the moment.”

The diplomatic relations
between the two neighbouring countries turned bitter recently when
Indian home minister Rajnath Singh left a South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (Saarc) meeting amid a spat with his Pakistani
counterpart, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. During the meeting, the Indian
home minister accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism which led Nisar
to snub him during the luncheon thrown for the Saarc members.

Speaking
about the recent turn of events, Salahuddin said he had “advised the
government to not participate in the Saarc meeting; yet the government
went ahead with it”.

However, he appreciated the protests
in India and discussion on the Kashmir issue in Indian parliament.
Specifically mentioning international writer Arundhati Roy, he said: “It
is good to know that there are people, such as Arundhati Roy sahiba,
who question the motives of their own state as well.”

Answering
a question after the press conference was over, he said that Pakistan’s
policy towards Kashmir “remains inconsistent” which gave strength to
the Indian troops in the valley. Despite the “indecisiveness on
Pakistan’s part”, he added that the Kashmiris were getting ready for “a
decisive moment to take matters in their own hands. With the increasing
violence, many Kashmiris believe that armed resistance is the only way
to move through the chaos.”

Karachi emir of the JI
Naeem-ur-Rahman said that Aug 15 would be commemorated as a ‘black day’
in which rallies would be taken out from Muzaffarabad to Chakothi, near
the Wagah border crossing in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Mourners accompany the body of fallen local hero, Burhan Wani, in Tral, south Kashmir: photo via Dawn, 25 July 2016

According to rescue officials, ten
civilians and four security officials were injured, with two in critical
condition, in a roadside blast targeting the vehicle belonging to the ATF
near Al Khair Hospital in Balochistan's provincial capital. The blast
also shattered windows of nearby buildings.

The bomb was planted along the side of the road and exploded as the ATF's vehicle escorting the judge passed by.

Security
forces and a bomb disposal squad reached the scene to collect evidence.
Rescue teams moved the injured to Civil Hospital Quetta and CMH.

Police cordoned off the area as a search operation went underway.

"This
is a busy road and the terrorists take advantage of this, planting
bombs and fleeing on motorcycles," said Bugti, strongly condemning the
attack while talking to media at the site of the blast.

"These
blasts are aimed at sabotaging Independence Day activities in
Balochistan. I believe these cowardly acts will not bring down our
morale. We are in a conflict zone and we will fight with renewed
resolve."

"We are reviewing our security measures and you will see changes on the ground."

The minister added that three to four kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast.

The explosion comes just days after a suicide bombing
that killed over 70 people, mostly lawyers and journalists, at the
emergency ward of Quetta's Civil Hospital on Monday.

A combing operation is ongoing throughout Quetta following Monday's blast.

PAKISTAN - A relative prays beside the grave of a lawyer killed in a suicide bombing in Quetta. By Banaras Khan: image via AFP Photo
Department @AFPPhoto, 10 August 2016

Wall chalking in #Balochistan, stand with us, Boycott the celebration on the creation of a monster #14AugustBlackDay: image via Jahán Balóc @BalochWorld, 9 August 2016

ISIS rears its head in Balochistan: Tarek Fatah, Toronto Sun, 9 August 2016

Nearly 100 people died Monday in an attack by Islamic State (ISIS)
on a hospital in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Balochistan, the size of France, is a strategic territory at the
mouth of the Straits of Hormuz that can effectively choke off all oil
traffic to and from the Persian Gulf.In March 2012, I wrote the following about the war in Balochistan for the Sun papers:“A terrible war is unfolding in a faraway land called Balochistan.
Almost daily, bodies of young men, kidnapped and tortured to death by
the Pakistan occupation army, end up in ditches. Others, still alive,
are thrown from helicopters into the arms of the rough mountain terrain
below. Yet, not a single western journalist covers this ongoing,
slow-motion genocide of the Baloch people.”An independent country before it was occupied by Pakistan in 1948,
Balochistan has witnessed a 65-year insurgency by nationalist guerrillas
seeking freedom for their once independent country.Baloch leaders say that to counter the largely secular independence
struggle led by left-wing revolutionaries, the Pakistan army introduced
Islamic right-wing jihadi death squads to carry out assassinations of
the Baloch intelligentsia, the political leadership, journalists,
lawyers and academics.For example, most of the dead and wounded victims of ISIS in the
latest attack were lawyers, who had come to the hospital after the head
of the Balochistan Bar Association was shot dead a few hours earlier by
gunmen.Two weeks ago, Baloch human rights activist Wahed Baloch, who ran a
private library of 10,000 books and was lovingly referred to as the
“Baloch Bookman”, was abducted from a bus and has since disappeared
along with tens of thousands of other Baloch who had the misfortune to
obtain higher education.The reported nexus between the Pakistan army and the Islamic radicals has come full circle. The tail is now wagging the dog.One faction of the Pakistan-backed Taliban has split and joined ISIS. It calls itself Jamaat-ur-Ahrar.It was this group that claimed to carry out the horrific suicide
bombing in Quetta. Its spokesman said in an email, the group “takes
responsibility for this attack, and pledges to continue carrying out
such attacks. We will release a video report on this soon.”The response from the Pakistan government was callous at best,
seemingly more concerned about the economic impact on its investments
than the people who died.The prime minister was overshadowed by the country’s armed forces
chief of staff, whose spokesman claimed the attack was aimed at wrecking
the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Corridor (CPEC), being built to
link a Chinese naval base on Balochistan’s coastal city of Gwadar and
China’s Xinxiang region.The Twitter post by the military’s spokesperson drew a sharp rebuke
by exiled Balochistan leader Mehran Marri, who wrote: “100 people killed
in #Balochistan's capital & the shameless #PakistanArmy is worried
about the China-Pak CPEC deal.”While the spectre of ISIS in Balochistan is a scary development,
Baloch leaders claim the attack may have been staged by the Pakistan
military to extract American funds.Marri put it this way on Twitter: “Is it a coincidence, days after
U.S. blocks $300M to Pakistan there’s a major terror attack? Who r the
Pakistanis fooling? China or the USA?”Meanwhile the latest victims of ISIS in Balochistan went largely unnoticed around in the world.Imagine if they had died in Gaza, or Glasgow.

In the aftermath of Monday’s carnage in
Quetta, a number of possible perpetrators have emerged, including two
militant groups and a foreign intelligence agency. Yet somewhere in
between the suspicions of government officials, boastful claims of
terrorists and conspiracy theories lies the truth -- which only a
thorough and transparent investigation can unveil.

Following
the gun and bomb attacks, Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri
voiced the suspicion that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) could
have been behind the tragedy, claiming that the foreign intelligence
agency had conducted similar operations before “in Quetta and other
areas”.

While the role of hostile external actors cannot
be ruled out and must be investigated, it was surprising that such a
senior official made the statement so soon after the event, before even
the preliminary investigations were completed. Surely state
functionaries should have solid evidence before publicly making such
claims.

However, what was even more confusing were the
dual claims made by TTP offshoot Jamaatul Ahrar (JA) and the Islamic
State militant group (IS), declaring responsibility for the atrocity.
Interestingly, the IS statement was released through the terror outfit’s
‘news agency’, Amaq, claiming a “martyrdom bomber” had carried out the
outrage.

There was some confusion whether JA had joined
forces with IS, which would have made the dual claims contradictory.
However, it appears that Jamaatul Ahrar’s alliance with IS was never
formal but merely a statement of appreciation, as many within JA’s ranks
share the sectarian worldview of IS. Moreover, the ‘official’ Islamic
State affiliate in this region is, and remains, IS Wilayah Khorasan, a
group completely different than JA.

Of course in the
nebulous world of religious militancy, alliances, loyalties and goals
are always fluid and subject to change. JA itself is the new avatar of
TTP Mohmand. This outfit had also attacked courts previously, in
Charsadda (March 2016).

Militants issuing claims and
counterclaims is not a new phenomenon. Such tactics have been witnessed
before. For example, in the Bacha Khan University attack in January
2016, militant Umar Mansoor claimed the attack, while Mohammad
Khorasani, the TTP’s ‘official spokesman’, distanced himself from it.

In
another example, both Jundallah and IS claimed the May 2015 Safoora
attack, in which over 45 members of the Ismaili community were massacred
in Karachi. This is of course not the same Jundallah that is active in
the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan. What is more, the
Pakistan-based Jundallah has claimed attacks as far afield as France, a
claim that many analysts say is difficult to believe.

Orlando
shooter Omar Mateen was also praised as a “soldier of the caliphate in
America” by IS, though it is not clear how, when and even if IS -- based
in the deserts of Syria and Iraq -- communicated its directives to the
security guard-turned-militant in far-off Florida. It may simply be a
case of opportunism, as militant groups seek to adopt the attacks
carried out by lone wolves and freelancers to boost their own image and
‘street cred’, while the perpetrators go down in a blaze of glory by
linking up to globally active terrorists.

It also appears
that various militant groups make claims that are merely red herrings,
to confuse investigators, or to secure bragging rights in the world of
militancy.

A senior police officer based in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, requesting anonymity, confirmed this to Dawn. “Militant
groups do it [make conflicting claims] for two main reasons: to create
confusion or to indulge in point-scoring. Unless law enforcers and
intelligence agencies make arrests or analyse explosives or have a
[solid] lead, we cannot say” who is actually responsible. “These claims
are mostly made to create ambiguity”.

Analyst and
director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies Imtiaz Gul
agrees and adds: Multiple claims are made “to obfuscate the identity of
the real perpetrators. It is immaterial who claims responsibility. What
is important is that something has been staged to create insecurity”.

Mr
Gul also observes that delayed claims -- for example the claims for the
Quetta attacks came several hours after the incidents occurred -- “point
to the fact that something is fishy”.

Perhaps what
emerges is the fact that investigators must not rush to make a
judgement. While all angles must be studied, paying too much heed to
unsubstantiated claims by militant groups may derail the investigations.

Instead
of pursuing overly broad claims -- some touching on the farcical -- it
would perhaps be more productive to employ scientific investigation
methods and reliable intelligence to uncover the hands behind the Quetta
carnage, and the many other tragedies of its kind.

Stickers and a picture decorate a wall in a caravan where a Christian
family has been living in Irbil, Iraq. They were forced to flee their
home town of Mosul when Islamic State militants took control two years
ago: photo by Alice Martins/AP, 10 August 2016

Stickers and a picture decorate a wall in a caravan where a Christian
family has been living in Irbil, Iraq. They were forced to flee their
home town of Mosul when Islamic State militants took control two years
ago: photo by Alice Martins/AP, 10 August 2016

An Indian Muslim pilgrim whose hands are decorated with henna and
garlands is photographed before leaving for the annual Hajj pilgrimage
to the Holy city of Mecca at the airport in New Delhi: photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP, 10 August 2016

An Indian Muslim pilgrim whose hands are decorated with henna and
garlands is photographed before leaving for the annual Hajj pilgrimage
to the Holy city of Mecca at the airport in New Delhi: photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP, 10 August 2016

Political Party agents check the voters roll at Kanyama Basic school voting station during Zambian general elections in Lusaka: photo by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP, 11 August 2016

Political Party agents check the voters roll at Kanyama Basic school voting station during Zambian general elections in Lusaka: photo by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP, 11 August 2016